Over the previous season, we have been intentional to find language for what makes New Wine Vineyard unique in its pursuit of becoming a healthy church. So often the Church in general can be too broad, superficial and confusing in trying to do and be everything to everyone. We want to hold to the non-negotiables (God as Creator/Father, Jesus as our Lord/Saviour, the Holy Spirit as present/comforter and the Scriptures being the complete authoritative Word of God) but we also want to be relentless in becoming clear in how God has called us to express these non-negotiables; not to reduce, limit or reject certain people but to limit confusion as much as possible so that people can easily discern whether they want to commit to following Jesus with us as one unified community.
With a high emphasis in our society on ‘experience/how I feel’ and a low emphasis on ‘commitment/value’ (just look at the worlds view of marriage), we as the Church need to be even more clear so that we stay centred on Jesus and not on gatherings concerning social justice or social clubs.
Our first value we want to explain is ‘Be real’ – with Scripture, with Jesus, with others and
with yourself.
1. ‘Be real with Scripture’ – we want to be a church that has a high regard for the authority of Scripture. In a time where there is so much confusion and lack of truth it is so important that we help our people to understand truth from the foundation of God’s Word. We do not want to use the Bible to support our experiences or ideas, but we want to be a house that allows space for the Scriptures to be unpacked in a real and honest way to interpret its clear meaning so that we find life.
2. ‘Be real with Jesus’ – the highest priority for a follower of Christ is to learn to just ‘be’ with him (John 15). Jesus wants who we are before what we do and so we want to always encourage our people to learn to share honestly, vulnerably and openly with Jesus. Once we are real with Jesus, he is able to reveal who he really is and we begin to change and become more like him, and in doing so, we do what he thinks is important. We believe through Jesus being real and compassionate, his power was released. So, we do not believe we need to ‘make the Spirit move’ but through our realness in community to Jesus, we step back and allow Jesus to encounter and transform lives- this takes all the pressure off us and begins to light a fire of hope.
3. ‘Be real with others’ – we are not into hype. Hype makes people the focus, it puts pressure on some to make it happen and it creates a view in people that there is a formula. The Kingdom is about receiving, and so whether it is the pastors, elders or members, we all need to learn to be in a continual posture to receive. We do this by
being real with others. When we are real our hands stay open to allow God to pour out His Kingdom. Being real does not mean to only share mistakes or brokenness, it is to share the joys and the pains, the suffering and the success. When we are real the focus moves away from perfection or failure and onto Jesus as Saviour, Lord and King.
4. ‘Be real with yourself’ – As humans, we love to be black and white. Life is either all up to us or all up to God. But that is not reality. Jesus shows us that we can suffer and live with hope at the same time. The danger for Christians is to separate the physical from the Spiritual. The way to combat this is to be aware of how real you are being with yourself. When we are real with ourselves, we take stock of our situation, and this helps to refocus our lives towards what Jesus has promised. Being real with yourself is not a defeated mindset but a mind that is aware of his or her weaknesses, which in turn becomes an encouragement of how much greater God is.
The value to be real is not a demand for a person to be uncomfortable in sharing his or
her secrets but an invitation to be known by people who you really are and celebrated
for the real person God created you to be. When we are real we realise Jesus was always
there.
God Bless
David Skevington